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Tips for Lighting

3K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  pball 
#1 ·
Most of these tips are for photography of human subjects. but can be taken in to effect for automobile photography
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The warm glow of the setting sun, the glare of high noon, the luminance on a cloudy day. You can turn ordinary pictures into exceptional ones by conveying the atmosphere, mood, and drama of the light.

Find the best lighting
Study the light on your subject and reposition yourself or your subject until you find the most flattering light.

Create a warm glow
Use the golden light and long shadows of early and late day to enhance pictures of landscapes, cityscapes, and people.

Avoid harsh shadows
Avoid harsh facial shadows by using the soft lighting of a cloudy day or a shady area. On sunny days, if your camera has several flash modes, select Fill-Flash. This will fire the flash even in bright sunlight. This "fills" the shadows on nearby subjects, creating more flattering portraits in direct sunlight. Check your camera's manual.

Turn off your flash
For more effective lighting when you're outside in dim light and your subject isn't within flash range (more than about 10 feet away), turn off your flash and capture the scene in the existing light. Hold your camera extra steady or use a tripod, and be sure to use a high-speed film if you have a film camera.

Use night flash
Night flash combines a slow shutter speed to capture the background scene with flash that illuminates a nearby subject. It's especially good for taking a picture of a person with the sunset or city lights in the background.
 
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#4 ·
the hour bracketing sunrise (i.e. if rise is 5:45, 5:15-6:15) and the hour around sunset are the best natural lighting, period.
bright color looks really good on a wet overcast day...the shininess plus the muted even light makes it almost luminous. street signs can be great on those days.
ALWAYS use a fill flash.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/color.htm
 
#5 ·
side lighting can create a 3d effect to your subject
back lighting can capture the subject as a shilouette
Front lighting is often harsh and can create highlights or reflections on a person's face that you may not want at least outdoor but there are still ways to utilize this
 
#6 ·
For those of you who've sprung for a set of strobes, studio lighting is a whole different world, moresoe than even going from film to digital. The natural light in a studio scene is pretty much completely irrelevant, and the amount of control you have dramitically increases (along with the complexity...think 35mmSLR to view camera). Here's a primer for those who are interested:

http://www.alienbees.com/johnsonarticle.html
 
#7 ·
If you've picked up a couple of strobes to stard doing portraits, product shots, whatever - studio lighting is a totally different ballgame than even using a camera on your flash. You goes from working with, or at best, very slightly modifying the existing light, to a situation where you are God - you create and control ever last aspect of the iight in that room. Sort of like going from a wal-mart point-and-shoot APS to a handmade 8x10 viewcam. There's whole books written on the subject, here's a good starter: http://www.alienbees.com/johnsonarticle.html
 
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